Orthodontic procedures for straightening teeth involve attaching orthodontic brackets to a patent's teeth. In the past, the bracket was attached to an orthodontic band which was in turn cemented to the patient's tooth. Modernly, the orthodontic bracket has a mesh backing and is bonded adhesively directly to the patient's tooth. Orthodontic movement of the patient's teeth is accomplished by an orthodontic arch wire which is attached or ligated to the orthodontic bracket which transmits the force to the patient's teeth. The orthodontic bracket has a slot which receives the arch wire and bracket wings which allow the litigation of the wire to the bracket. The wings are basically hooks which extend toward surface of the teeth. During the bonding process the bonding material will occasionally lodge in the orthodontic bracket wing. The material must be removed in order to allow ligation of the arch wire to the bracket.
The removal of the bonding material has been attempted with dental instruments such as hand and power dental scalers and rotary dental drills. The difficulty is that the bonding material is difficult to visually see as it is on the tooth side of the orthodontic bracket wing and the gingival wing is often immediately adjacent to the patient's gingival tissue which further obstructed the view. Dental hand instruments are not particularly effective in removing the bonding material due to the strength and tenaciousness of the bonding material. A power dental drill could remove the material if it had access. The drill would have to be placed parallel to the surface of the tooth which the size and shape of the dental drill head prevents. When all fails the bracket has to be removed replaced, which is very time-consuming along with the difficulty of replacing the new bracket in the same position as the old bracket